(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) weighed in at 172 lbs. the night of his last fight against Austin Trout, and Canelo has been weighing in the mid-160s to upper 160s in his other junior middleweight fights against welterweights.
We’re talking about a fighter that is taking off between 11-18 pounds when dehydrating to make weight for his fights at 154 against welterweights, junior middleweights and in one case against a junior welterweight.
Making the weight for his fights at junior middleweight has got to be a real struggle for the 22-year-old Canelo because he’s so heavy for the weight.
What’s kind of amusing is the spin that Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya and CEO Richard Schaefer are putting on the 152 lb. catch-weight the Mayweather-Canelo fight will be taking place at on September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Both De La Hoya and Schaefer are trying to make it out that Canelo will be better off by having to take off two extra pounds to get down to 152 instead him barely making the weight at 154.
I think they’re both dreaming because Canelo doesn’t have any fat weight to take off to get down two extra pounds to make the 152 lb. limit. What this means is that Canelo will have lose two extra pounds of water weight when he starts dehydrating for the fight, and that’s not a good thing if you’re barely making the fight like Canelo.
Schaefer said to Boxingsocialist when asked if Canelo taking off two extra pounds to get to 152 will hurt him: “No, not at all. Coming in at 152 lbs. actually helps Canelo, because for this fight he will be working with strength and conditioning coach, and remember he came in at 153 and a quarter pounds for the Trout fight.”
I have no doubts that Canelo will make weight, but it certainly won’t help him any like Schaefer and De La Hoya think. We’ll no doubt see Canelo walking into the ring weighing 170+ on the night of the fight and looking like a light heavyweight, but I don’t see him being stronger for having lost those two extra pounds like Schaefer and De La Hoya are talking.
Canelo should arguably be fighting at middleweight or super middleweight at this point, as he’s barely making 154. Two extra pounds is a big deal.
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